Last weekend I took a trip over to Pearson Airport to check out one of their galleries because the Greenbelt Photo Exhibition, which includes my barn owl photo, is on display there until the end of this month as part of the Changing Exhibits series in the Malton Airport Gallery, located in Terminal 1. Pearson Airport actually has more than one space dedicated to different exhibitions of local art, as well as a permanent collection of large-scale sculptures and other installations. That permanent collection is a mixture of international artists and Canadian artists including some exceptional examples of First Nations art and artists.

Over the last ten years, I have made websites for many business of different sizes and services, including “one man operations” and I offer photograph retouching as one of my included digital services. While it’s possible to work all kinds of magic when it comes to improving the lighting and overall quality of any photograph with regards to editting out unwanted elements, there are limits to what any digital darkroom can do. The general rule of thumb is that the better the quality of the original photos, the easier it will be to give them that little extra sparkle that elevates them to professional-looking images, ready for print or web use.

In my previous post, I mentioned my visit to the Mountsberg Raptor Centre and included a gallery of photos I took, which included some really nice photos of one particular barn owl named Jazz.

Well a few weeks ago, I noticed that the Ontario Greenbelt Foundation was hosting a photo contest to celebrate their 10th anniversary so I decided to enter one of the barn owl photos, as the Mountsberg Raptor Centre is definitely part of the Greenbelt area and I am very fond of those photos. About a week or so after I’d entered, I was informed that I had been chosen as a finalist out of 800 entries and then it turns out I was one of the winners chosen to be part of a photo exhibiton at the McMichael Art Gallery, which is a huge honour!

As a belated birthday present to myself and to show around some relatives, a few days ago we all went over to the Mountsberg Raptor Centre on one of their private tours you can book, which was super fun and gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how they feed and care for a variety of birds, including their Shrike Recovery Program.

Part of the private tour was a personal educational session and we also got a chance to hold a raptor! I was so thrilled to get a chance to have a barn owl on my gloved fist, his name is Shadow and there is nothing more magical in this world than having a barn owl stare into your eyes and then chuckle at you.

This summer I made good on a promise to a fellow artist friend of mine to go up north and visit her in Whitehorse, which is the capital of the Yukon. Not only does Whitehorse have a thriving and vibrant local artist community, but the beauty of the landscapes there just unbelievable; not only are you constantly surrounded by mountains and scenery that make you feel like you stepped into a postcard, but there is such a wealth of wildlife waiting to be discovered.

Underfangs are $22CAD + shipping&handling BUT please be aware Canada Post is on partial strike right now so delivery times are unpredictable, may take weeks instead of days. Other ship options available for extra cost.

For those interested in my "underfangs" undies, they come just in black, with choice of teeth printed front or back, in American Apparel Hot Short style. Sizes available: S, L, XL (M sold out sorry!) pic.twitter.com/bHouw49SFI

LMAO that is a photo of a fangdana. Underfangs come in black as a "hot short" undie style. Yes I do also have fangdanas in four colours: black, navy, dark green and dark red :) twitter.com/auraus/status/…